Is using a SERP API legal in 2026?

What does Google's robots.txt say?

It asks automated clients not to fetch search results pages. The file at google.com/robots.txt, read on 22 October 2026, starts with a group for all user agents that contains Disallow: /search, with exceptions only for Google's About and How Search Works pages. It also disallows /goto?, the redirect Google started using for result links in 2026.

Robots.txt is a published request, standardised as RFC 9309. Whether ignoring it creates legal liability is not decided by the file itself, which is one reason the cases below matter.

What is Google LLC v. SerpApi about?

Google alleges that SerpApi circumvented SearchGuard, its system against automated access, in breach of section 1201 of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act. These are allegations; the case is open.

• 19 December 2025: complaint filed in the Northern District of California (No. 4:25-cv-10826).
• 20 July 2026: the court granted SerpApi's motion to dismiss. Claims about results without copyrighted content were dismissed without leave to amend; claims about licensed content could be amended within 21 days.
• 10 August 2026: Google filed an amended complaint relying on licensing agreements.
• 24 August 2026: SerpApi filed a second motion to dismiss.
• 15 September 2026: the judge denied SerpApi's motion to compel production of Google's licences.
• 22 October 2026: no ruling on the second motion to dismiss found in any source we read.

What is Reddit v. SerpApi about?

Reddit alleges that SerpApi, Oxylabs, AWMProxy and Perplexity obtained Reddit content from Google results by circumventing Google's protections. Again, these are allegations.

• 22 October 2025: complaint filed in the Southern District of New York (No. 1:25-cv-08736).
• 31 July 2026: the court largely denied the motions to dismiss of SerpApi and Perplexity. The circumvention claim, a trafficking claim against SerpApi and a civil conspiracy claim go forward; some other claims were dismissed.
• 28 August 2026: SerpApi answered and filed antitrust counterclaims against Reddit.
• 25 September 2026: Reddit moved to dismiss those counterclaims.
• 22 October 2026: no ruling found on Oxylabs' motion to dismiss or on Reddit's motion.

What does this mean for a SERP API customer?

It means a buyer should not assume the questions stop at the provider. Google's case targets a SERP API provider only. Reddit's case also names Perplexity, an AI company, and on 31 July 2026 the court found it plausible that Perplexity was itself a circumventor because it set the scraping parameters and ran the queries. That is a finding on the pleadings, not a judgment.

What stays in your hands is the purpose and the data. Searching for public information about markets, products, competitors and your own rankings is a different matter from collecting personal data about individuals or republishing content that others own. If your use is sensitive, ask a lawyer in your country before you start; SerpCrypto does not give legal advice and makes no promise about the legal position of any use.

What does SerpCrypto allow and refuse?

Our Acceptable Use Policy welcomes SEO, rank tracking, market and academic research, price and news monitoring, and web search for AI agents. It refuses Searches meant to find, track or harass a private person, child sexual abuse material, spam, fraud, and any use that breaks the law where you or we operate. Abuse reports are reviewed by a person, and confirmed abuse leads to suspension.

On our side: Searches run at request time on our collection infrastructure and that of upstream partners, which we do not name. Results are returned as the engine showed them for the location, language and device you asked for. On logs: We log, for each request, the time, account, engine, query parameters, status and credits used, and keep these logs for 30 days to show your usage and settle billing disputes, then delete them. We do not sell or share your queries. We keep your account number, orders, top-up records and credit totals while your account is open, and afterwards only as long as accounting rules require. We disclose records to authorities only when the law requires it.